Apogee is a rising up-and-coming science and technology hub in northern California. Besides being a technology hub, the citizen’s utilize a long-lasting ritual-magic tradition that allows them to summon and form contracts with spirits. These contracts are generally beneficial to the citizens of Apogee, who keep lesser spirits as pets or use them to help with everyday life. However, there are also criminal organizations that summon stronger spirits for their own ends and malicious spirits who would bring ill to the general populace if contracted to an individual who is not strong enough to control them.
Cultural Influences
Magic (4 T↑)
Apogee’s culture revolves around a long lasting tradition of using magical rituals to summon and form contracts with spirits. Spirits are conscious beings that act as living manifestations of natural or social forces, concepts, and ideas. Spirits can take a multitude of forms, and can represent any multitude of things, invoking a multitude of fantastic and supernatural powers.
Anyone with sufficient understanding of the ritual system can call forth and attempt to form a contract with a spirit. However, contract forming rituals are typically performed by specialized summoners who are well-versed in both the theory and practicalities of the magic. A typical summoner must be trained on how to perform the process with minimum risk over the course of a few years. That is not to say that there are not untrained individuals who attempted the magic on their own, usually to to find out that they were messing with forces they are not able to handle. Losing control of a summon spirit allows the being to roam free until it is contained and sent back to the spirit realm. If the spirit is volatile, as uncontrolled spirits often are, this can result in the death of the summoner and destruction to the surrounding area.
Contracting with a spirit often comes with a price. The cost of the summoning can range from gifts of food and a place to sleep for weaker spirits, to a commitment to protect the weak or human sacrifice for a stronger spirit. The contract creates a telepathic/empathetic bond with the spirit. This bond allows the contractor and spirit to exchange feelings and thoughts, and allows the contractor to call on the spirit without a full summoning ritual.
The bond between contractor and spirit is most effective when both parties have compatible ideals and motives, but a sufficiently persuasive contractor can win their bound spirits’ support even if their ideals don’t closely align. Willpower is important in allowing the contractor to maintain a bond with a spirit, keep control of a rebellious spirit, and keep from having their personality being consumed by the spirit. Willpower becomes more significant when dealing with stronger spirits or forming bonds with multiple spirits.
Due to the risks of contracting with spirits, a majority of citizens contract with one, or occasionally two, weak spirit(s). However, there is the rare individual who would contract with a stronger spirit, either out of desperation or out of confidence in their own ability to handle the spirit.
In the past few years, spirit summoning and contracting has been becoming more prevalent in the world as a whole. In addition, new developments in the theory behind the traditional ritual allows for the summoning of increasingly more powerful spirits, while making it easier for individuals to handle contracts with stronger entities.
Technology Influence (5)
Apogee is, in general, a technology hub. The region is dominated by massive computing and software companies, while smaller startups are growing up in the cracks. Except for a small portion of the population who can’t afford it, most civilians keep up with the newest tech and having a device that is better than anyone else is a significant status symbol in the city.
The city has only grown so big because of this connection to technology, as it was a few startups who began growing out of Apogee that brought the city to the attention of the world. As a result, the citizens have grown accustomed to having access to the latest and greatest of the technologies offered by the companies there.
Technology can sometimes become closely entwined with Apoge’s spirit summoning practices. Larger companies take advantage of the supernatural abilities of spirits to produce electronics and devices that could not be manufactured otherwise. Many of the technophilic members of society favor personal spirits that have abilities that can keep their devices charged or give them unlimited wifi.
Military Influence (3 T↑)
In recent years, Apogee’s police force has been struggling to keep the peace in the city. Various criminal organizations are making use of spirits in their operations and are trying to summon increasingly powerful spirits to keep a leg up on both their competitors and the police. In addition, an increasing number of civilians have tried summoning and contracting spirits on their own and found out that they could not maintain control of the contract.
In response, part of California National Guard as stepped in to deal with escalating spiritual threats, and keep the peace in the region. Although their presence is necessary, most citizens object to their use of excessive force. Whether dealing with a highly wanted drug lord who controls spirits who could rip a man in two, or individuals who have mistakenly contracted with a significantly dangerous spirit, the National Guard tends to shoot first and ask questions later. To the military, making sure a dangerous spirit is defeated and can’t do further damage has a higher priority than an individual life, regardless if said life is that of a hardened criminal, or an unfortunate civilian who bit off more than they could chew.
Religious Influence (1 T↑)
Technology, spirit summoning, and secularity has a strong alliance that doesn’t give religion much of a foothold in Apogee. In addition, monotheistic religions do not have much sway in a place where citizens are used to the presence of a wide variety of spirits.
However, recently there has been a religious resurgence as some groups are trying to bring back older animistic and polytheistic belief systems. Cults have also started to form around worshiping specific powerful spirits as gods.
Arts & Culture Influence (2)
There is an art presence in Apogee, and the city includes the various artistic and cultural institutions you would expect in a city of its side. Cultural preferences and practices are prevalent throughout the area from local slang to local food trends.
However, neither arts or cultural values are dominant driving forces in Apogee’s society. Even when these facets are present they are often minor and frequently symptoms of Apogee’s technological and magic structures.
Governance
Government Presence (1 S)
Apogee is officially under the governance of the mayor and city council. This government holds offices in the northern part of town, and frequently meet to discuss politics and pass laws. The mayor and most members of the council are well off and have houses in the upper class neighborhoods in the city.
Despite the government’s apparent authority, the majority of citizen’s know that they hold very little power. Any law the council pass, relies on the enforcement of the Apogee Police Department and/or California National Guard, who are known to ignore the city council’s policies whenever they don’t align with the interests of either group. Neither the police or National Guard hesitate to declare their disregard for Apogee’s politicians, who both factions view as weak as most of the local politicians do not have the mental fortitude required to handle contracts with powerful spirits.
As a result, most of the official legislation for the town is not regarded seriously unless the police or the national guard has supported it. In recent years, the local government seems to have taken this to heart, as the laws that pass as of late seem to always have the approval of at least one of the groups. If a law is proposed and does not get the approval of either the police or the national guard, it almost definitely does not pass to the mayor’s desk.
This system has discouraged voting in local elections amongst citizens, as they feel that their vote legitimately does not matter. Although the government has tried to dissuade this kind of thinking in the past, and has even made a few attempts to regain power over the authoritative groups, these efforts have proven to be fruitless. Those who still hold office are complacent or too cowardly to stand against the police or national guard, and the general apathy and disrespect towards the government discourages anyone confident enough from running for office.
Rule of Law (3 T↓)
The Apogee Police Department is in charge of enforcing the laws and maintaining order in the city. The police have recently had issues dealing with powerful spirits either summoned by members of one of the Apogee’s various criminal groups, or rogue spirits summoned by individuals who are not powerful enough to control them.
Rogue spirits are a relatively new problem, as before the boom, the town’s summoning rituals were well understood by its citizens. This would prevent most people from summoning something wildly out of their control, save for a few occasions. However, the influx of citizens whose grasp on summoning is tentative at best has made this problem grow exponentially. The addition of desired protection from growing criminal organizations has only fueled these failed summonings.
The police force is inhibited by a lack of military equipment and powerful spirits which could help them deal with the most dangerous spirits. In addition, the California National Guard blames part of the police’s failure on the respect they show for the rights of the accused. When dealing with an individual the police deams to be innocent they try to capture the individual rather than using lethal force, and would prefer to attempt to break an individual's contract and save killing a potential innocent as a last resort.
While the Apogee Police Department still has significant legal authority their role is slowly being taken over by the more ruthless National Guard. The National Guard sees Apogee as a city on the verge of a crisis. With criminal groups gathering strength and summoning frighteningly powerful spirits, the National Guard believes that restraint is only beneficial to the growth of these organizations. The more leverage the National Guard gains in the city, the harder it is for the Police to push them out again, especially when they’re forced to concede that they need the guards firepower. Underground operations have been growing, and are beginning to seep into the lives of ordinary citizens. Opioids and narcotics have been smuggled in large quantities by these groups, and the National Guard believes they could stop them before any of the organizations gains enough power to spread.
Social Services (2)
Apogee’s government does not provide much in the ways of social services. It provides some maintenance on roads and major governmental structures. Some libraries still remain, but they are not funded well enough such that they are kept up to date.
On the other hand, the Apogee Police Department sponsors several community centers to host low-cost, highly-regulated summoning ritual services to prevent civilians from trying to form a contract on their own and summoning something more dangerous or powerful than they can handle. These lessons often amount to basic summoning, and only allow citizens to call on the most feeble of spirits. The rituals taught here are often used to summon spirits used for company or to do household chores.
Otherwise, if a citizen wants something repaired or if they are in need of medical attention, they are expected to handle it themselves. Although this is not a problem for the majority of Apogee citizens, as most of them earn enough to be able to afford insurance for these kinds of things, this makes life much harder for those in the lower class. As a result, many citizens contract with spirits that can help with construction and repair, or have healing to reduce construction costs and the need for expensive medical bills. For the lower class citizens, this often leads to people attempting to summon more spirits than they can handle, or spirits who they cannot control. These summonings, often done in desperation, are not taught by the free courses from the police. This results in unnecessary deaths and accidents caused by uncontrolled spirits.
Alleyway clinics run by more skilled summoners have replaced hospitals in low income areas. They can handle injuries and illnesses fine but complex surgeries, which require the most amount of money, are beyond their skill leaving many stuck and forced to seek the funds to go to a hospital through… alternative means.
Economics
Economic Strength (4)
Apogee used to be a small town with a fairly weak economy, and with little significance to the world at large. However, this changed a few years ago when several tech companies decided to set up shop due to the town having lower property prices than other parts of California. This has led to a significant economic boom in the region causing an increase in the population, increases in company presences, and an increase in tourism. A rapid jump to international trade city was not without its bumps, but since the initial jump the economy appears to have stabilised, and has not been going through any significant fluctuations in recent years. This stability and economic power has been a model for other city policies.
Before the boom, Apogee had a long tradition of spirit summoning and summoner’s secrets were often passed over generations of the town’s people. Although there weren’t any major summonings, the townspeople had, on average, unusually strong familiars. Since the boom, the town’s tradition of spirit summoning has allowed it to develop technologies and materials that are not available anywhere else in the world. This was made possible by manufacturing and engineering techniques enhanced by the knowledge of the spirits of the town. This has made for a high demand for Apogee-made technology that brings in a fortune to the city. The companies who produce their products in Apogee have even begun adding “Authentic Apogee Product” labels to their products to deter those who might attempt to copy their devices.
Additionally, various multinational software and computing companies have decided to move their headquarters to the city bringing further profits, and cementing the area’s reputation as the new Silicon Valley.
As is expected with a significant growth in population, hospitality, housing and tourism have also escalated in Apogee. Many nationalities of people come to the city, either to visit and take in the wonders of the metropolis, or to take advantage of its employment opportunities. This results in many privately-owned restaurants which serve a variety of cultural cuisines.
Wealth Distribution (4 T↓)
Spirit summoning has typically been a great equalizer in Apogee’s society, and the area tends to only have high paying engineers, celebrities, and businessmen. As such, the area is known for low wealth gaps and a tiny lower class. However, after years of stability the wealth gap is starting to widen.
Economic theorists suspect the growing wealth gap has several causes. Firstly, improvements in the theory behind spirit summoning and contracting allow for individuals to contract more powerful spirits. This means the lower classes who depend on the ritual offerings sponsored by the police are stuck with weaker servents, whereas the richer citizens can afford to hire a summoner’s consultant. Summoner’s consultants can effectively teach anyone specialized rituals that provide more powerful spirits, giving the rich a significant edge over the rest of society. They can even provide enchantments to encourage a contract even if the summoner is too weak-willed to impress the desired spirit.
The wealth gap may also be attributed to the growing businesses’ desires to entice investment. This has motivated the stagnation of wages and the accruing of wealth for those who have invested in the companies.
Another common attribution to the wealth gap is greed amongst the higher ranks of the companies. The need to entice people to come to Apogee to work for the large companies has dwindled as the city is now popular enough to be its own reason for joining a company there. A significant amount of talented people are already moving to the city to seek opportunity, so there is less need to entice workers with larger salaries and lots of benefits. Instead, the companies are able to pass the increased earnings of their businesses to those in upper management positions. The flood of new talent brings with it new ideas and techniques on summoning, enabling companies to better utilize their existing spirits and summon new ones. Large corporations are now finding it easier than ever to take advantage of Apogee’s magic to line their pockets.
Agriculture & Trade (3)
Apogee has a near monopoly on its local technology, and has buyers from all over the world who are willing to spend millions for access to some of the local technology. Although there are other places in the world that use spirit summoning, and act as tech hubs, many of them pale in comparison to what Apogee’s companies have achieved. Of course, trade goes both ways. Spirit contracting cannot provide Apogee with all the resources it needs, and it frequently imports food, domestic goods, and luxury items from around the world.
As an urban development, Apogee’s concrete environment does not allow for agricultural development. Additionally, fishing and livestock raising are not feasible in the area. This effectively makes Apogee residents dependant on foods imported to the city. Since the city has a wide array of cultures importing ethnic foods from various parts of the globe, the shipping expenses and money leaving the city for food is significant enough that attempts at urban gardening have been made. Residents of the city are often encouraged to take up gardening through government advertising campaigns. These urban gardens are growing in popularity in the lower classes as a means to make ends meet.
Additionally, although many companies come to Apogee for trading, Apogee itself does not produce much outside of the technology fields. This means that the only real exports from the city are smart devices. Thankfully, the quality of the smart devices produced in the city is famously superb, and the city has protected itself from infringement on that territory by starting a campaign to label Apogee-made products with an official “Authentic Apogee Product” label. The concern with becoming absolute is very real though, so companies are constantly trying to push forward ahead of their competition leading to a growing amount of botched summons and ethically ambiguous testing. Reporters have been hard pressed to get any real facts, but rumors are a large number of rogue-spirit related incidents in the city aren’t caused by gangs, but by corporations.
Social Relations
Race Relations (4)
Race and ethnicity are present in Apogee, and there are is some discrimination. However, in general the population of Apogee is quite tolerant. This is mostly because the citizen’s have slowly grown more tolerant to people of different cultures due to the influence of the spirits, as a majority of them do not make any distinction over race. The only notable forms of racial tension tend to happen on an infrequent and individual basis. The presence of racial supremacy groups in Apogee is nonexistent at this point, and racial discrimination in the law is also absent.
The sudden influx of people during the economic boom of Apogee was seen mostly as a blessing amongst the original residents of the town. This helped ease any racial tensions that the influx of multicultural influences may have brought. Many of the residents of Apogee, new and old, see newcomers as beneficial to the town. This in turn has made Apogee very welcoming of different cultural influences.
In addition, since Apogee has a low wealth gap and strong economic strength, the citizens of the city are not engaged in the scapegoating and discrimination that occurs when multiple groups are fighting for limited resources. Even while the wealth gap is increasing, workers appear to be more upset at people in upper management positions more than anyone of a particular race.
Class Relations (3 T↓)
Class relations have typically been low due to the high level of income equality in the region. Even before the boom, residents of Apogee have been generally equal in terms of income, and have not had any significant problems with class disputes. There has been no reason to fight over distinctions in class when everyone has had about the same amount as everyone else.
However, the economic situation has been changing as of late. A developing wealth gap has stirred up class tensions throughout the city. The wealthiest citizens, due to a possibility of speculated reasons, are getting richer while leaving the lower classes stagnant. Those who have experienced this stagnation believe that the higher-ups in their companies have gotten greedy, and are intentionally taking their salary increases for themselves. So far, this has even led to a couple of demonstrations, walk-outs, and picketing lines. All of the demonstrations so far have been non-violent, although layoffs have followed after some of them, further inflaming class tensions.
With passions rising, the Apogee Police Department is worried, fearing it will not be able to deal with any class riots with its hands full with the organized crime groups and rampaging spirits that are already plaguing the city. Meanwhile crime lords have found it easier than ever to recruit desperate people, bolstering the number of grunts and spirits at their disposal. Even if people don’t join fully, there are plenty of desperate people now willing to turn a blind eye here, or smuggle something there for extra cash.
Gender Relations (5)
Apogee’s views on gender have mostly been influenced by its long history which is tightly woven with the spirit world. While individual spirits have varying opinions on gender (those born from human concepts tend to care more about gender than others), the vast majority of spirits do not see gender as anything significant. For them one human is much like any other, and time taken to distinguish between ‘male’ and ‘female’ is time wasted. The humanoid ones may take a form leaning one way or the other but that is purely for aesthetic reasons. Even spirits with more androgynous forms may choose to identify as a specific gender, though spirits are just as likely to fluidly to switch between genders on a whim or forgo a gender at all.
Frequent interaction with spirits has led the citizens of Apogee to adopt their disregard on differences in gender. Gender discrimination has decreased dramatically in the city, the typical gender roles and gender performance beliefs followed for most of history have almost been entirely forgotten.
This view has remained steadfast, even though the rapid growth in population and influx of cultural ideologies. Many of those who come to Apogee expect this, and either keep their opinions to themselves or simply join the rest of the city in not paying any mind to gender. Any talk of gender discrimination is quickly stamped out by unamused colleagues. As a result, the gender pay gap which is experienced in other parts of the world is nonexistent in Apogee. Additionally, crimes against women are approximately equal to those against men.
Sexual Orientation Relations (2)
Strangely enough, even as Apogee’s public has become more tolerant on the issue of gender, citizens have become increasingly judgemental of what have been deemed as socially unacceptable sexual relationships.
The disapproval of non-binary relationships is mostly caused by the fear that “unhealthy” or “unnatural” sexual practices would lead to an increase in the number of dangerous and/or malevolent spirits that are summoned into the city. This stems from old superstitions that one’s beliefs will draw like minded spirits. This belief remains from before the economic boom, as the local townspeople carried this as a significant reason as to why they had been so successful in summoning spirits. As the town grew, they continued to report and spread this belief, ensuring that newcomers would abide this practice if they wanted to learn the summoning tricks of the town. Some of the more fanatical anti-LGBQ spokespeople of the city even suggest that allowing such relationships could lead to questions about human-spirit relationships due to a ‘slippery slope’.
Prominent magical theorists argue that while a connection between sexual acts and malevolent spiritual summonings is possible, there is very little evidence to support this superstition. There is evidence of drawing like-minded spirits, but no evidence that sexual divergences are to blame. All studies indicate that angry people bring angry spirits. However, discriminated members of the LGBQ community are often angry, resentful, or depressed leading them to draw in dangerous spirits. The public is either ignorant or ignores this detail, blaming their sexuality on the summonings. Despite the theorists’ scepticism, citizens of Apogee continue to look down on and shun those who engage in sexual behavior they deem unclean.
Table of Contents
Apogee is a rising up-and-coming science and technology hub in northern California. Besides being a technology hub, the citizen’s utilize a long-lasting ritual-magic tradition that allows them to summon and form contracts with spirits. These contracts are generally beneficial to the citizens of Apogee, who keep lesser spirits as pets or use them to help with everyday life. However, there are also criminal organizations that summon stronger spirits for their own ends and malicious spirits who would bring ill to the general populace if contracted to an individual who is not strong enough to control them.
Cultural Influences
Magic (4 T↑)
Apogee’s culture revolves around a long lasting tradition of using magical rituals to summon and form contracts with spirits. Spirits are conscious beings that act as living manifestations of natural or social forces, concepts, and ideas. Spirits can take a multitude of forms, and can represent any multitude of things, invoking a multitude of fantastic and supernatural powers.Anyone with sufficient understanding of the ritual system can call forth and attempt to form a contract with a spirit. However, contract
forming rituals are typically performed by specialized summoners who are well-versed in both the theory and practicalities of the magic. A typical summoner must be trained on how to perform the process with minimum risk over the course of a few years. That is not to say that there are not untrained individuals who attempted the magic on
their own, usually to to find out that they were messing with forces they are not able to handle. Losing control of a summon spirit allows the being to roam free until it is contained and sent back to the spirit realm. If the spirit is volatile, as uncontrolled spirits often are, this can result in the death of the summoner and destruction to the surrounding area.
Contracting with a spirit often comes with a price. The cost of the summoning can range from gifts of food and a
place to sleep for weaker spirits, to a commitment to protect the weak or human sacrifice for a stronger spirit. The contract creates a telepathic/empathetic bond with the spirit. This bond allows the contractor and spirit to exchange feelings and thoughts, and allows the contractor to call on the spirit without a full summoning ritual.
The bond between contractor and spirit is most effective when both parties have compatible ideals and motives, but a sufficiently
persuasive contractor can win their bound spirits’ support even if their ideals don’t closely align. Willpower is important in allowing the contractor to maintain a bond with a spirit, keep control of a rebellious spirit, and keep from having their personality being consumed by the spirit. Willpower becomes more significant when dealing with stronger spirits or forming bonds with multiple spirits.
Due to the risks of contracting with spirits, a majority of citizens contract with one, or occasionally two, weak spirit(s). However, there is the rare individual who would contract with a stronger spirit, either out of desperation or out of confidence in their own ability to handle the spirit.
In the past few years, spirit summoning and contracting has been becoming more prevalent in the world as a whole. In addition, new developments in the theory behind the traditional ritual allows for the summoning of increasingly more powerful spirits, while making it easier for individuals to handle contracts with stronger entities.
Technology Influence (5)
Apogee is, in general, a technology hub. The region is dominated by massive computing and software companies, while smaller startups are growing up in the cracks. Except for a small portion of the population who can’t afford it, most civilians keep up with the newest tech and having a device that is better than anyone else is a significant status symbol in the city.The city has only grown so big because of this connection to technology, as it was a few startups who began growing out of Apogee that brought the city to the attention of the world. As a result, the citizens have grown accustomed to having access to the latest and greatest of the technologies offered by the companies there.
Technology can sometimes become closely entwined with Apoge’s spirit summoning practices. Larger companies take advantage of the supernatural abilities of spirits to produce electronics and devices that could not be manufactured otherwise. Many of the technophilic members of society favor personal spirits that have abilities that can keep their devices charged or give them unlimited wifi.
Military Influence (3 T↑)
In recent years, Apogee’s police force has been struggling to keep the peace in the city. Various criminal organizations are making use of spirits in their operations and are trying to summon increasingly powerful spirits to keep a leg up on both their competitors and the police. In addition, an increasing number of civilians have tried summoning and contracting spirits on their own and found out that they could not maintain control of the contract.In response, part of California National Guard as stepped in to deal with escalating spiritual threats, and keep the peace in the region. Although their presence is necessary, most citizens object to their use of excessive force. Whether dealing with a highly wanted drug lord who controls spirits who could rip a man in two, or individuals who have mistakenly contracted with a significantly dangerous spirit, the National Guard tends to shoot first and ask questions later. To the military, making sure a dangerous spirit is defeated and can’t do further damage has a higher priority than an individual life, regardless if said life is that of a hardened criminal, or an unfortunate civilian who bit off more than they could chew.
Religious Influence (1 T↑)
Technology, spirit summoning, and secularity has a strong alliance that doesn’t give religion much of a foothold in Apogee. In addition, monotheistic religions do not have much sway in a place where citizens are used to the presence of a wide variety of spirits.However, recently there has been a religious resurgence as some groups are trying to bring back older animistic and polytheistic belief systems. Cults have also started to form around worshiping specific powerful spirits as gods.
Arts & Culture Influence (2)
There is an art presence in Apogee, and the city includes the various artistic and cultural institutions you would expect in a city of its side. Cultural preferences and practices are prevalent throughout the area from local slang to local food trends.However, neither arts or cultural values are dominant driving forces in Apogee’s society. Even when these facets are present they are often minor and frequently symptoms of Apogee’s technological and magic structures.
Governance
Government Presence (1 S)
Apogee is officially under the governance of the mayor and city council. This government holds offices in the northern part of town, and frequently meet to discuss politics and pass laws. The mayor and most members of the council are well off and have houses in the upper class neighborhoods in the city.Despite the government’s apparent authority, the majority of citizen’s know that they hold very little power. Any law the council pass, relies on the enforcement of the Apogee Police Department and/or California National Guard, who are known to ignore the city council’s policies whenever they don’t align with the interests of either group. Neither the police or National Guard hesitate to declare their disregard for Apogee’s politicians, who both factions view as weak as most of the local politicians do not have the mental fortitude required to handle contracts with powerful spirits.
As a result, most of the official legislation for the town is not regarded seriously unless the police or the national guard has supported it. In recent years, the local government seems to have taken this to heart, as the laws that pass as of late seem to always have the approval of at least one of the groups. If a law is proposed and does not get the approval of either the police or the national guard, it almost definitely does not pass to the mayor’s desk.
This system has discouraged voting in local elections amongst citizens, as they feel that their vote legitimately does not matter. Although the government has tried to dissuade this kind of thinking in the past, and has even made a few attempts to regain power over the authoritative groups, these efforts have proven to be fruitless. Those who still hold office are complacent or too cowardly to stand against the police or national guard, and the general apathy and disrespect towards the government discourages anyone confident enough from running for office.
Rule of Law (3 T↓)
The Apogee Police Department is in charge of enforcing the laws and maintaining order in the city. The police have recently had issues dealing with powerful spirits either summoned by members of one of the Apogee’s various criminal groups, or rogue spirits summoned by individuals who are not powerful enough to control them.Rogue spirits are a relatively new problem, as before the boom, the town’s summoning rituals were well understood by its citizens. This would prevent most people from summoning something wildly out of their control, save for a few occasions. However, the influx of citizens whose grasp on summoning is tentative at best has made this problem grow exponentially. The addition of desired protection from growing criminal organizations has only fueled these failed summonings.
The police force is inhibited by a lack of military equipment and powerful spirits which could help them deal with the most dangerous spirits. In addition, the California National Guard blames part of the police’s failure on the respect they show for the rights of the accused. When dealing with an individual the police deams to be innocent they try to capture the individual rather than using lethal force, and would prefer to attempt to break an individual's contract and save killing a potential innocent as a last resort.
While the Apogee Police Department still has significant legal authority their role is slowly being taken over by the more ruthless National Guard. The National Guard sees Apogee as a city on the verge of a crisis. With criminal groups gathering strength and summoning frighteningly powerful spirits, the National Guard believes that restraint is only beneficial to the growth of these organizations. The more leverage the National Guard gains in the city, the harder it is for the Police to push them out again, especially when they’re forced to concede that they need the guards firepower. Underground operations have been growing, and are beginning to seep into the lives of ordinary citizens. Opioids and narcotics have been smuggled in large quantities by these groups, and the National Guard believes they could stop them before any of the organizations gains enough power to spread.
Social Services (2)
Apogee’s government does not provide much in the ways of social services. It provides some maintenance on roads and major governmental structures. Some libraries still remain, but they are not funded well enough such that they are kept up to date.On the other hand, the Apogee Police Department sponsors several community centers to host low-cost, highly-regulated summoning ritual services to prevent civilians from trying to form a contract on their own and summoning something more dangerous or powerful than they can handle. These lessons often amount to basic summoning, and only allow citizens to call on the most feeble of spirits. The rituals taught here are often used to summon spirits used for company or to do household chores.
Otherwise, if a citizen wants something repaired or if they are in need of medical attention, they are expected to handle it themselves. Although this is not a problem for the majority of Apogee citizens, as most of them earn enough to be able to afford insurance for these kinds of things, this makes life much harder for those in the lower class. As a result, many citizens contract with spirits that can help with construction and repair, or have healing to reduce construction costs and the need for expensive medical bills. For the lower class citizens, this often leads to people attempting to summon more spirits than they can handle, or spirits who they cannot control. These summonings, often done in desperation, are not taught by the free courses from the police. This results in unnecessary deaths and accidents caused by uncontrolled spirits.
Alleyway clinics run by more skilled summoners have replaced hospitals in low income areas. They can handle injuries and illnesses fine but complex surgeries, which require the most amount of money, are beyond their skill leaving many stuck and forced to seek the funds to go to a hospital through… alternative means.
Economics
Economic Strength (4)
Apogee used to be a small town with a fairly weak economy, and with little significance to the world at large. However, this changed a few years ago when several tech companies decided to set up shop due to the town having lower property prices than other parts of California. This has led to a significant economic boom in the region causing an increase in the population, increases in company presences, and an increase in tourism. A rapid jump to international trade city was not without its bumps, but since the initial jump the economy appears to have stabilised, and has not been going through any significant fluctuations in recent years. This stability and economic power has been a model for other city policies.Before the boom, Apogee had a long tradition of spirit summoning and summoner’s secrets were often passed over generations of the town’s people. Although there weren’t any major summonings, the townspeople had, on average, unusually strong familiars. Since the boom, the town’s tradition of spirit summoning has allowed it to develop technologies and materials that are not available anywhere else in the world. This was made possible by manufacturing and engineering techniques enhanced by the knowledge of the spirits of the town. This has made for a high demand for Apogee-made technology that brings in a fortune to the city. The companies who produce their products in Apogee have even begun adding “Authentic Apogee Product” labels to their products to deter those who might attempt to copy their devices.
Additionally, various multinational software and computing companies have decided to move their headquarters to the city bringing further profits, and cementing the area’s reputation as the new Silicon Valley.
As is expected with a significant growth in population, hospitality, housing and tourism have also escalated in Apogee. Many nationalities of people come to the city, either to visit and take in the wonders of the metropolis, or to take advantage of its employment opportunities. This results in many privately-owned restaurants which serve a variety of cultural cuisines.
Wealth Distribution (4 T↓)
Spirit summoning has typically been a great equalizer in Apogee’s society, and the area tends to only have high paying engineers, celebrities, and businessmen. As such, the area is known for low wealth gaps and a tiny lower class. However, after years of stability the wealth gap is starting to widen.Economic theorists suspect the growing wealth gap has several causes. Firstly, improvements in the theory behind spirit summoning and contracting allow for individuals to contract more powerful spirits. This means the lower classes who depend on the ritual offerings sponsored by the police are stuck with weaker servents, whereas the richer citizens can afford to hire a summoner’s consultant. Summoner’s consultants can effectively teach anyone specialized rituals that provide more powerful spirits, giving the rich a significant edge over the rest of society. They can even provide enchantments to encourage a contract even if the summoner is too weak-willed to impress the desired spirit.
The wealth gap may also be attributed to the growing businesses’ desires to entice investment. This has motivated the stagnation of wages and the accruing of wealth for those who have invested in the companies.
Another common attribution to the wealth gap is greed amongst the higher ranks of the companies. The need to entice people to come to Apogee to work for the large companies has dwindled as the city is now popular enough to be its own reason for joining a company there. A significant amount of talented people are already moving to the city to seek opportunity, so there is less need to entice workers with larger salaries and lots of benefits. Instead, the companies are able to pass the increased earnings of their businesses to those in upper management positions. The flood of new talent brings with it new ideas and techniques on summoning, enabling companies to better utilize their existing spirits and summon new ones. Large corporations are now finding it easier than ever to take advantage of Apogee’s magic to line their pockets.
Agriculture & Trade (3)
Apogee has a near monopoly on its local technology, and has buyers from all over the world who are willing to spend millions for access to some of the local technology. Although there are other places in the world that use spirit summoning, and act as tech hubs, many of them pale in comparison to what Apogee’s companies have achieved. Of course, trade goes both ways. Spirit contracting cannot provide Apogee with all the resources it needs, and it frequently imports food, domestic goods, and luxury items from around the world.As an urban development, Apogee’s concrete environment does not allow for agricultural development. Additionally, fishing and livestock raising are not feasible in the area. This effectively makes Apogee residents dependant on foods imported to the city. Since the city has a wide array of cultures importing ethnic foods from various parts of the globe, the shipping expenses and money leaving the city for food is significant enough that attempts at urban gardening have been made. Residents of the city are often encouraged to take up gardening through government advertising campaigns. These urban gardens are growing in popularity in the lower classes as a means to make ends meet.
Additionally, although many companies come to Apogee for trading, Apogee itself does not produce much outside of the technology fields. This means that the only real exports from the city are smart devices. Thankfully, the quality of the smart devices produced in the city is famously superb, and the city has protected itself from infringement on that territory by starting a campaign to label Apogee-made products with an official “Authentic Apogee Product” label. The concern with becoming absolute is very real though, so companies are constantly trying to push forward ahead of their competition leading to a growing amount of botched summons and ethically ambiguous testing. Reporters have been hard pressed to get any real facts, but rumors are a large number of rogue-spirit related incidents in the city aren’t caused by gangs, but by corporations.
Social Relations
Race Relations (4)
Race and ethnicity are present in Apogee, and there are is some discrimination. However, in general the population of Apogee is quite tolerant. This is mostly because the citizen’s have slowly grown more tolerant to people of different cultures due to the influence of the spirits, as a majority of them do not make any distinction over race. The only notable forms of racial tension tend to happen on an infrequent and individual basis. The presence of racial supremacy groups in Apogee is nonexistent at this point, and racial discrimination in the law is also absent.The sudden influx of people during the economic boom of Apogee was seen mostly as a blessing amongst the original residents of the town. This helped ease any racial tensions that the influx of multicultural influences may have brought. Many of the residents of Apogee, new and old, see newcomers as beneficial to the town. This in turn has made Apogee very welcoming of different cultural influences.
In addition, since Apogee has a low wealth gap and strong economic strength, the citizens of the city are not engaged in the scapegoating and discrimination that occurs when multiple groups are fighting for limited resources. Even while the wealth gap is increasing, workers appear to be more upset at people in upper management positions more than anyone of a particular race.
Class Relations (3 T↓)
Class relations have typically been low due to the high level of income equality in the region. Even before the boom, residents of Apogee have been generally equal in terms of income, and have not had any significant problems with class disputes. There has been no reason to fight over distinctions in class when everyone has had about the same amount as everyone else.However, the economic situation has been changing as of late. A developing wealth gap has stirred up class tensions throughout the city. The wealthiest citizens, due to a possibility of speculated reasons, are getting richer while leaving the lower classes stagnant. Those who have experienced this stagnation believe that the higher-ups in their companies have gotten greedy, and are intentionally taking their salary increases for themselves. So far, this has even led to a couple of demonstrations, walk-outs, and picketing lines. All of the demonstrations so far have been non-violent, although layoffs have followed after some of them, further inflaming class tensions.
With passions rising, the Apogee Police Department is worried, fearing it will not be able to deal with any class riots with its hands full with the organized crime groups and rampaging spirits that are already plaguing the city. Meanwhile crime lords have found it easier than ever to recruit desperate people, bolstering the number of grunts and spirits at their disposal. Even if people don’t join fully, there are plenty of desperate people now willing to turn a blind eye here, or smuggle something there for extra cash.
Gender Relations (5)
Apogee’s views on gender have mostly been influenced by its long history which is tightly woven with the spirit world. While individual spirits have varying opinions on gender (those born from human concepts tend to care more about gender than others), the vast majority of spirits do not see gender as anything significant. For them one human is much like any other, and time taken to distinguish between ‘male’ and ‘female’ is time wasted. The humanoid ones may take a form leaning one way or the other but that is purely for aesthetic reasons. Even spirits with more androgynous forms may choose to identify as a specific gender, though spirits are just as likely to fluidly to switch between genders on a whim or forgo a gender at all.Frequent interaction with spirits has led the citizens of Apogee to adopt their disregard on differences in gender. Gender discrimination has decreased dramatically in the city, the typical gender roles and gender performance beliefs followed for most of history have almost been entirely forgotten.
This view has remained steadfast, even though the rapid growth in population and influx of cultural ideologies. Many of those who come to Apogee expect this, and either keep their opinions to themselves or simply join the rest of the city in not paying any mind to gender. Any talk of gender discrimination is quickly stamped out by unamused colleagues. As a result, the gender pay gap which is experienced in other parts of the world is nonexistent in Apogee. Additionally, crimes against women are approximately equal to those against men.
Sexual Orientation Relations (2)
Strangely enough, even as Apogee’s public has become more tolerant on the issue of gender, citizens have become increasingly judgemental of what have been deemed as socially unacceptable sexual relationships.The disapproval of non-binary relationships is mostly caused by the fear that “unhealthy” or “unnatural” sexual practices would lead to an increase in the number of dangerous and/or malevolent spirits that are summoned into the city. This stems from old superstitions that one’s beliefs will draw like minded spirits. This belief remains from before the economic boom, as the local townspeople carried this as a significant reason as to why they had been so successful in summoning spirits. As the town grew, they continued to report and spread this belief, ensuring that newcomers would abide this practice if they wanted to learn the summoning tricks of the town. Some of the more fanatical anti-LGBQ spokespeople of the city even suggest that allowing such relationships could lead to questions about human-spirit relationships due to a ‘slippery slope’.
Prominent magical theorists argue that while a connection between sexual acts and malevolent spiritual summonings is possible, there is very little evidence to support this superstition. There is evidence of drawing like-minded spirits, but no evidence that sexual divergences are to blame. All studies indicate that angry people bring angry spirits. However, discriminated members of the LGBQ community are often angry, resentful, or depressed leading them to draw in dangerous spirits. The public is either ignorant or ignores this detail, blaming their sexuality on the summonings. Despite the theorists’ scepticism, citizens of Apogee continue to look down on and shun those who engage in sexual behavior they deem unclean.